Family Always Knows
by Jessica Capasso
Summary: What if Piper saw Chris for who he really was from the beginning? How would they have been different?


Family always knows

A/N: What if Piper recognized Chris when she met him?

Chris covered the time portal he used to get here with orbs as he orbed directly in front of Phoebe. "Don't look into her eyes!" he cried as he began to throw every potion he could get his hands on at the titan. The titan disappeared and he got the first real look at his aunt that he hadn't seen in almost ten years. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. "You alright?" He asked softly. He could barely keep the emotion out of his voice. He explained to her that Paige wasn't dead, just turned to stone. He wasn't really too worried. He knew they found a way to get her out in his future and they would again.

"Who are you?" She asked suddenly.

"Chris. Chris Perry." He said. "I'm from the future." Okay so the name was sort of a lie, but not really. He just didn't say his last name that's all. Suddenly Piper walked in and Chris couldn't breathe for a moment. He never dreamed how difficult it would be to see his mother again and not be able to tell her who he was. To pretend not to care. To have her look at him without the unconditional love that he had always seen from her.

Once Piper got over the shock of seeing Paige as stone she turned to Chris. "Who are you?" Piper asked suspiciously and slightly angry. Of course that's to be expected after having your sister turned to stone.

"That's Chris. He's from the future." Phoebe explained.

"Yeah but just like twenty years or so." Chris felt the need to clarify.

"Friend or Foe?" Piper asked Phoebe and Chris' heart sank. He should have expected it, but he did just save them after all. That's why he chose this exact moment to travel to. Having his mother look at him with such suspicion was breaking his heart in two, but he kept his perfected mask up and no one saw any sign of emotion from him with the exception of him defending himself.

"Hey I'm the one who put my life on the line here. I didn't have to drop everything I was doing just to orb in and save her butt from..."

"You can orb?" Piper asked incredulously. She studied him for a moment and then she gasped. It was all there; the attitude, the disregard for the rules, the appearance; He was a Halliwell. But whose? She looked closer and saw Leo's eyes shining out from the young face. "I have another son?" She almost whispered not able to take her eyes of Chris.

Chris' heart started beating a million miles a minute. They weren't supposed to figure it out. He should have known his mother would always know him. He should have sent someone else back. Someone who didn't look so Halliwell. Everyone always said he was pure Halliwell through and through. Of course that's the same reason he couldn't let anyone else come in his place. It just wasn't in his nature. Now what was he going to do. Maybe he could play it off like they were crazy. Who knew what exactly made her think that anyway. "Huh? What? What are you talking about?" He said and cringed. He knew his voice was way too high pitched to be believable. Usually he was such a good liar, but he knew that part of him wanted so badly to be found out. To be able to be in his mother's arms again. That part was fighting the good liar part unfortunately.

Piper looked him straight in the eyes. "You are my son. You come from about twenty years in the future, you look just like me, have the Halliwell attitude and disregard for the rules, and most of all Leo's eyes. You are my son" She repeated.

"Not to mention you are obviously familiar with the attic. You knew where all the potions were to get rid of that titan." Phoebe gasped finally catching up with the conversation.

Chris sighed. He could have kept fighting, but he didn't have it in him. It was so hard to deny his mother the first time. He couldn't deny it again. He looked down, bit his lip and nodded. "My baby." Piper said as she ran forward and engulfed him in her arms.

He began to sob on her shoulder. "I'm sorry mom. I'm so sorry."

She rocked him back and forth a little making shushing noises telling him everything was going to be okay. Once he had regained control of himself he stood up straight and apologized stiffly. He couldn't believe he had lost control like that. "What no hug for your dear old aunty?" Phoebe asked playfully.

"Hi Aunt Phoebes." Chris said as he gave her a warm hug.

"Okay now that that's settled we need to get down to business. First we free Paige from the stone, then we all sit down and talk and you young man," She pointed to Chris, "get to tell us what's so imporatant that you had to break all the rules to travel through time, and then we want to get to know you."

"As long as you understand that I can't tell you everything and I can only interfere with events to a certain point, even the bad ones."

"As long as my family doesn't get hurt in the process we will accept that." Piper said strongly. Chris nodded.

A few hours and a plethora of magical creatures later Paige was free. Chris looked at her shyly and said hello. "Who's he?" Paige asked her sisters.

"Pipers son from the future." Phoebe informed her.

"Wyatt?" Paige asked confused.

"Nope another son actually." Piper said smiling brightly at Chris.

"Wait you had two sons? You really are bucking tradition huh? And not even a P name at that." Paige asked looking approvingly at her oldest sister.

"Well my middle name is Perry." Chris said shrugging.

"I missed all the hugs didn't I?" Paige asked mock sadly. Chris laughed and pulled her into a tight hug. "Much better." She smiled.

"Okay now is there anything else crucial we need to deal with at this exact moment?" Piper asked Chris.

"Not really. Not that I can interfere with anyway. Some of it is meant to happen, but I can help it not to be as bad. I'm free for a few hours though."

"Okay now it's time for you to tell us what was so important to come back here. And why you didn't want us to know who you are."

"Wait he didn't want us to know?" Paige asked taken aback.

"Well I didn't think you would believe me. It is a little far-fetched and you guys are pretty paranoid." Chris explained.

"Hey!" They all called in unison then laughed. "So what was your plan then. Just stay here and never tell us?" Phoebe asked incredulously.

"Well yeah actually. I might have said something when mom got pregnant with me, but that would have depended on the kind of relationship we had at that time. I was fully prepared to make you hate me if I had to in order to complete my mission and if I did I would have kept my mouth shut."

"Make us hate you?" Piper asked worried about what exactly her son had been prepared to do. Would he have hurt his family?

"Yeah like lie, manipulate situations, hide things etc., but never actually hurt you." Chris looked at the floor afraid he would get yelled at.

"What could possibly be that important?" Paige asked him.

"Wyatt" Chris almost whispered.

"What about Wyatt?" Piper asked starting to panic.

"Don't worry Mom. We have time. There is no need to panic yet. It's just that in my time he is turned evil. The damage is done before I'm born, but the trigger wasn't pulled so to speak until we were much older. We think that they wanted him to learn as much as he could from you guys before they, I guess you could say, activated his evil."

"Oh my God. My baby!" Piper cried with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I know you probably don't want to hear it, but I know you and since you know who I am, I know that you would much rather me tell you the truth than sugar coat it." Chris said tearing up as well.

"No you're fine. It's just hard to take in sweetie. How bad is it?" Piper asked him.

"It's bad. I won't give details, but I will say the entire world is in darkness and turmoil." Chris sighed. "I've tried so many times to save him in the future, but it's too late there so I had to come back here and fix it before it started."

"You're not going to hurt him. I don't care what he grows up to do." Piper said getting angry.

"No of course not! If I was willing to do that I would have killed him in the future. I'm more powerful than he is anyway. No. No matter what he's done he's still my brother and I still love him. I came back to save him from whatever evil got to him now. I just want my brother back." Chris said backpedaling and hoping he wouldn't have to see his mother's infamous temper already.

"Oh that's fine then." She looked a little sheepish. "But what if we can't save him and they get to him anyway. What will you do then?"

"Bind his powers...permanently." Chris said determined and daring them to argue with him, but they all nodded.

"Only as a last resort." His mother said. "Leo!" she gasped. "We forgot to call Leo! He should be here. He should know."

Chris cringed. "I'd really rather you didn't. At least not yet. We never had the best of relationships and I've barely slept in a week. I'd prefer that he not know until I've gotten some rest. I don't exactly have the best hold on my temper when I'm tired."

"Oh okay. So you got Piper's temper too did you?" Paige asked amused.

"Actually Aunt Paige I got yours. I doesn't come out often, but when it does it's lethal." he chuckled at her affronted look. "I'm worlds better than mom!"

"Ummm. Chris?" Phoebe got his attention. "You do realize that you just insulted the tempers of some of the most powerful witches in the world?"

"Uh Oh." He cringed playfully and everyone started laughing at him.

"Got get some rest baby. We'll cover everything for a while."

"I can't yet. I have to see this titan thing through first. Any time now I will have to go for a while to do some damage control then help you guys out. If I can work things right I should be able to sleep in a couple days."

"No you won't. You will go sleep now. Even if you can only squeeze in a few hours." Piper told him sternly.

"Mom I am a grown man." Chris groaned.

"And I am still your mother." Piper put her hands on her hips. If Chris hadn't been so tired he would have been able to match her stubbornness, but exhausted as he was he didn't have a chance and he knew it so he just sighed and asked where he could sleep. She sent him to her room and he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

* * *

After the titan threat was over, Leo became an Elder. Piper was pretty pissed and was debating not telling him about Chris. She sent Chris to bed as soon as Leo left. A few hours later she heard muffled cries coming from her room and went in to see Chris thrashing on the bed obviously in the throes of a horrible nightmare. She climbed in bed next to him and pulled him up close to her when she couldn't wake him. As soon as she held him he relaxed into a good sleep so she didn't want to move. Unfortunately she fell asleep too.

They both woke to the sound of orbs forming in the room. The glanced over and saw Leo standing there furious. "Wow Piper couldn't even wait a day before jumping into bed with the first whitelighter you could find." He said cruelly.

"Don't you dare talk to her like that!" Chris yelled at him.

"How dare you speak to me you little bastard. You knew what was going on here and you took full advantage of her weakness just to get her into bed!" Leo hauled Chris out of the bed and punched him so hard he fell down.

"Leo! Stop it!" Piper screamed at him at the same time as Chris threw him telekenetically across the room. When Leo ran at Chris again he orbed out. Only Piper saw the hurt look of fury and betrayal on his face as he left. She realized that he had to go before he did anything he would regret. "God damnit Leo. How dare you!? How dare you just barge in here jumping to conclusions!? How dare you hit your own son!?"

Leo froze with a look of shock and horror on his face. "My son? How?"

"Yes Leo your son. Your second son. He came back from the future to save his brother, risked his life, his very existence, broke all the rules, all to save this family and this is how you repay him?" Piper knew she wasn't being fair, but she was too furious to care.

Leo sank onto the bed and put his head in his hands. "What have I done?" He asked sadly and Piper deflated. "Why didn't anyone just tell me who he was?"

"He wanted to wait until he had a chance to rest. Apparently you two never had a very good relationship and he didn't want to deal with that while exhausted and I accepted that with the promise that he would tell you as soon as he got a good night's sleep. I'm sure this isn't going to help matters any."

"What can I do? How can I fix this?" Leo asked her hoping against hope that she would have some ideas.

"I don't know Leo." She sighed. "He never even told me what the problem was between you in the future, but you better fix it and fast."

Leo nodded and closed his eyes for a moment trying to sense his son. Finally he found him sitting on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. When Leo orbed in he found Chris sitting crosslegged on the beam fighting back tears. "Can we talk?" Leo asked Chris.

"There is nothing to talk about." Chris said coldly.

"Yes there is Chris. I'm sorry. I just lost my head. I don't know what I was thinking except that I wasn't."

Chris scoffed. "You never do." He said softly.

"Chris you're my son. I want to make things right between us. I can apologize for what I did today, but the stuff that you remember I haven't done yet. I don't even know what it is and I can't apologize for something that I haven't done and I won't apologize without knowing what I'm doing it for."

"It doesn't matter." Chris said sadly.

"Yes it does Chris. It will always matter. You're my son and I love you and I don't want to make the same mistakes again. Please just give me a chance to fix it."

"Fine you want to know what you did? You weren't there Leo. Ever. Your job always came first. The almighty Elder can't take a day off to come to his sons birthday parties, ball games, christmas, anything. I think I saw you all of four times before the world went to hell. You didn't even come when mom died and you could have healed her. I cried and screamed for you, but you never came. You killed mom, you neglected me and Wyatt, you just didn't care. We didn't matter to you. Not more than everything else anyway."

By the end of Chris' speech Leo looked heartbroken at everything his son had said. There was really nothing he could say to that. There was only one thing he could do. Leo took a deep breath and jumped off the bridge. "DAD!" Chris screamed and immediately orbed to the bottom of the bridge just in time to see his father hit the pavement. He didn't move. Chris knew what he did. He just fell from grace. He gave up being an elder, a whitelighter, everything, just so he wouldn't make the same mistakes this time around. "Dad please wake up. I'm sorry. I never should have said anything. Please." He put his hands over his father. "Damnit. If ever I were able to heal make it now." he cried to the heavens with tears running down his face. Suddenly his hands started to glow and his father began healing.

Leo sat up gasping to see dried tears running down Chris' face while he was looking down at his hands in awe. "Chris? What happened?"

"I...healed you. I can...heal... How?" Chris stammered.

Leo smiled. "You found your trigger Chris. I'm so proud of you. Not only for that, but for everything you are doing here. Your mom gave me the cliffs notes version about how you risked everything to save your brother."

"Yeah well I can't very well let him destroy the world and I could never bring myself to kill him no matter how evil he is so I didn't have much choice." Chris shrugged.

"Evil? Wyatt's evil? Oh. My God." Leo sat back and put his head in his hands.

"Umm. She didn't tell you that?"

"No just that you came back to save him. She didn't say from what. This is all my fault isn't it. If I had been there more..."

"No Dad. I blamed you for a lot of things all my life, but that was never one of them. The only ones to blame are the demons that got to him as a baby."

"We will save him Chris. I promise. No matter what it takes. I'm still proud of you though. You must be a wonderful person to be able to still love him and be willing to risk everything to save him after everything he put you through." Leo put his hand on Leo's shoulder.

"How do you know he did anything to me? I never said that." Chris looked at his father incredulously.

"I could see the tortured look in your eyes when you mentioned it. Don't worry. We'll save you both and give you both the life you deserve."

"We should probably get home. Mom is probably freaking out by now." Chris said with a short laugh mostly just trying to escape the heavy emotions and maybe even being conned into talking about everything Wyatt did to him.

"Okay. I'll need a lift though. It's kind of a long walk for a mortal." Leo smiled at Chris.

Chris grinned wide being reminded of everything his father sacrificed for his family. Maybe he really didn't realize what he was doing in the future. He took Leo's arm and orbed to the manor landing in the conservatory where Chris sensed Piper. As soon as they landed Leo swayed a bit. "That's gonna take some getting used to as a mortal."

Piper looked up confused at that. "Mortal? Huh?"

"Well see ummm...I kinda...well..."

"He fell from grace. He gave up being an elder so he could stay with us. He's human now." Chris explained sensing Leo was having trouble with it.

Piper looked to her oldest son to see the pure joy on his face. "That's what the problem was between you in the future." She said knowingly.

Chris nodded. "I didn't tell him to do it though. All I said was that he cared more about his job than us and we never even saw him because he spent all his time up there and then he just jumped. I didn't even see it coming." Chris said quickly hoping his mother wouldn't be angry at him.

"Jumped? Jumped from where? Are you okay?" Piper asked looking over Leo for any signs of injury.

"From the top of the bridge and I'm fine. Chris healed me."

"You can heal?" She asked Chris. "I thought you said you couldn't heal."

"I couldn't. I guess I found my trigger as Dad put it." He shrugged. "It's probably a good thing though now that he can't heal you guys anymore."

"But you can still orb and heal. If he's not an elder anymore how is that possible." Piper asked him confused.

Chris got as red as a tomato and began to stammer. Then Piper gasped and put her hands on her stomach. "Already?" Chris nodded.

"But yesterday was the first time since..." Piper started.

"Mom please! Sooo don't need to hear this!" Chris groaned covering his ears.

Piper and Leo laughed. "Sorry baby. Didn't think before I spoke."

"Peanut." Chris said.

"Sorry?" Piper asked him not understanding what he meant by that.

"That's what you used to always call me. Peanut." Chris said blushing again.

"Okay peanut. I like that. Do you happen to know how you get that nickname?"

"Well see when you're pregnant with me you get constant craving for anything with peanut butter." Chris laughed.

"I'll go to the store tomorrow and stock up on peanut butter." Leo offered laughing with his son.


End file.
